Why Is Marcela Silvia Montana Mancera Living In The Cancun Airport? Mexican Woman Is A Mystery

She’s not in an Edward Snowden situation, waiting to accept an asylum offer from a country after leaking sensitive documents to the press. She’s not Tom Hanks’ character in “The Terminal,” who was a man without a country after his homeland was no longer recognized as a sovereign state and was living in an airport terminal in the interim. So why is Marcela Silvia Montana Mancera living in the Cancun airport?

Nobody knows.

Is Mancera living in the Cancun airport, because she doesn’t have enough money to head back to her hometown in Mexico? Authorities have ruled out that possibility, because they’ve seen the 45-year-old woman withdrawing cash from an ATM.

"She looks like a regular passenger at first glance, people don't look at her, but we have seen her every day. ... We are not doctors, but it's obvious that she has problems. Some of my co-workers tried to speak with her, but at times it seems as if she loses it," an airline worker told news.com.au.

Mancera’s life in the Cancun airport involves walking through the terminals, washing herself in the bathrooms, sleeping on the floor and paying for meals at the airport’s restaurants. It’s unclear exactly how long she has been living in the airport.

The woman living in the Cancun airport has a passport identifying herself as Marcela Silvia Montano Mancera, a police spokesman said. The passport was found during a “routine inspection,” he said.

It appears that Mancera may have some form of mental illness, although Mexican authorities have not said the Mexican national is suffering from such an illness. A federal police officer told the Australian news outlet that Mancera has been seen talking to herself in English and Spanish while living in the Cancun airport.

Authorities said they’re trying to locate Mancera’s family but have been unable to do so. It’s unclear whether they contacted the family and haven’t heard back or if they’re having trouble identifying Mancera’s family.